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Section 4: Personal Career Development Plan…

A Cinematographer or Director of Photography (or DP or DoP), has responsibility for the whole camera crew on set and is in charge of making creative and technical decisions with regards to the way the shots look. They have control over lighting, framing, costumes and makeup. As well as this, they assist the post producer for colour correction and grading.

The DoP will work closely with the Director, Gaffer, Production Designer, Costume Designer and Hair and Makeup Department.

Generally, the hours for a DoP are long and they may have to travel a lot, often going to foreign countries.

Qualifications needed:

A Bachelor’s degree is typical, but work experience is also very important.

Salary:

Freelance (per week) – MINIMUM: £2,080.80MAXIMUM: N/A

Commercial (per week) –

MINIMUM: £693.00MAXIMUM: £1124.00

Career Two:

Director –

Directors are responsible for the look and feel of the film, having responsibility over every shot in the sequence. The Director is in charge of all people on set but works closely with all crew members to achieve their aim for the final product.

Directors have to be creative, decisive, determined, calm under pressure, willing and able to work long hours -intensively-, have strong leadership skills, strong communication skills and extensive knowledge of film and the process of creating a film from both a creative and a technical stand-point.

Salary:

Freelance – app. N/A

Contracted –

MINIMUM: £15,000

MEDIAN: £26,000

MAXIMUM: £39,000

Commercials – app. MINIMUM: Not less than

MAXIMUM: £691.00

Career Three:

Editor –

An editor works closely with the director to create the final product. They help finalise and achieve the initial aim for the production by working long hours in an editing suite working on the film. They have to be creative and motivated. They might also have responsibility over a whole team of assistants and trainees on big productions.

An aspiring editor has to be skilled when it comes to the post-production process, have knowledge of different types of editing software, creative and imaginative, organised, team leader, aesthetically aware and patient. They have to have an understanding of narrative and creative storytelling to be able to achieve a director’s vision and good communication skills.

Qualifications needed:

A specific qualification isn’t generally necessary.

Salary:

Contracted –

MINIMUM: £15,528

MEDIAN: £23,620

MAXIMUM: £34,240

ANALYSIS OF THREE DIFFERENT ‘LIVE’ MEDIA JOBS:

Job one:

DoP

Short film

London

No pay

I found this job on the Mandy.com website and searched for jobs in the UK. I was particularly interested because in the description it stated “[We] are looking for a possibly long-term collaboration with several projects planned for next year.” This made the job more attractive because I could potentially get a lot more work out of it just from helping on the initial project.

The job would involve helping the creators and directors bring their idea to life on screen, as well as showing that I have the capability to add to the film with my creative ideas and putting them into practice – “We’re looking for a DoP who can bring ideas to the table and input their creative flair.”

Presumably, I would need to have a certain amount of experience with filming, outside of college projects and also be able to prove that I am capable of taking on the job by presenting a showreel of my work. I would need a media specific CV as well to further improve my chances of getting the job as this would show that I am professional and give them more of an insight on my experience with filmmaking.

Job two:

Runner

Feature film

East London

Low/no pay

Again, I found this job on Mandy.com. I searched for production jobs in the UK.

I was drawn to this particular job because I thought it seemed like a good opportunity to get some experience on a full-length feature film. As well as this, the description of the film sounded like it would be really fun to be a part of:”Accident Man is an assassin who makes all his hits seem like an accident. The story is about him seeking revenge for the murder of his ex-girlfriend (who he still loved). The film is going to be lots of fun with stunts, gun fights, explosions and lots of Kung Fu.”

This job would include doing to various admin jobs, working in the office as well as on set, but also doing lots of different odd jobs that would help the production (even in small ways, like getting people tea and coffee). Runners have to be fast thinking, willing to help, enthusiastic and feel comfortable with taking orders.

A qualification isn’t necessary for this job, but an education in film production may give me an advantage if I were to apply. However, a lot of the time a clean drivers license is necessary.

Job three:

DoP

Feature film

Essex

No pay (£600 + food expenses)

I also found this last job on Mandy.com, again searching for production jobs in the UK.

Although I have already analysed a cinematography job, this one would involve working on a feature length film instead of short film, so the responsibilities would be greater. This job stood out to me as I found the brief for the film to be very intriguing: “Our brand new film is based on the Christmas horror legend FRAU PERCHTA.
Plot: 12 days leading to Christmas children begin vanishing each night, just like some 20 years ago. Same killer? Or is the urban legend real? One family will find out this Christmas Day.” I believe working on a production like this would leave room for a lot of creativity as well as being a really fun environment to work in.

Reiterating what I wrote about the cinematographer job shown above, I would have to help the members of the production team bring the story to life, working closely with the director to make sure we are on the same page and have an excellent line of communication.

Again, I would need a certain amount of experience with filming and cinematography. Some form of education in relation to filmmaking would also give my chances a boost if I were to apply for this job. I would need to supply a media specific CV and a showreel to present my best work.

WRITTEN COMPARISON OF DIFFERENT CONTRACT TYPES:

There are several different contract types that are available in the media industry. Below is a written comparison of them:

Full time – Permanent: A permanent, full-time employee will usually work 39 hours in a week and be considered a regular member of staff. They are exposed such benefits as pensions, sick pay, holiday pay and maternity/paternity leave.

Part-time – Permanent: A permanent, part-time employee will work a set amount of hours in a week that make up a fraction of a full-time employee’s hours. They will receive the same benefits as a full-time, permanent employee however their privileges will be less extensive because they only work a fraction of the hours.

Fixed-term and freelance: Fixed-term and freelance contracts are both temporary, unlike full-time and part-time permanent which are long term. If an employee is under a fixed-term contract, they may still be eligible for some of the same benefits as full-time and part-time permanent contracts, but only if said benefits are explicitly listed in their contract. Those under a freelance contract however, are responsible for their own pensions, sick pay and holiday pay, etc.

Shift work: These types of contracts are found particularly in TV and radio where employees have a set shift, generally throughout a 24 hour period, for example, 9:00am-13:00pm.

Office hours: This type of contract generally concerns the typical office hours of 9:00am to 17:00pm. It is more common in finance and marketing jobs within the media industry.

Irregular and anti-social hours: This is similar to overtime, where you will paid extra money on top of your normal wage for working extra hours. It is common for these extra shifts to be during anti-social hours, for example, very early in the morning or very late at night and throughout the night.

Salaried: This refers to a contract with a set annual wage, usually divided into 12 payslips to receive at the end of each month.

On completion: In this example, a contractor will the employee a time period in which they need to complete the job and only at the completion of this job, will they get paid the agreed fee.

COMPLETED MEDIA SPECIFIC CV:

COMPLETED MEDIA SPECIFIC SHOWREEL:

EVALUATION OF THE MEDIA INDUSTRIES I COULD WORK IN:

Film: The film industry is one of the most successful industries in media, bringing in billions of pounds every year. There are many different jobs within the film sector, but to work on the main production side you have to be creative, qualified, experienced with filmmaking, etc. Jobs that require these assets could be director, editor, cinematographer and so on.

TV: Television is one of the biggest forms of entertainment in the media industry as it is easily accessible and there are programmes on a lot of channels 24/7. Like working in film, qualifications aren’t necessary, but it does help to be able to show that you have education and experience with the industry.

Publication: This industry includes books, magazines, newspapers, etc. Although this form of media is still popular, it is overshadowed by the popularity of film, TV and interactive media. Qualifications are generally required when applying for a job in publications as a potential employee has to be highly literate and well educated.

Radio: Much like the publication sector, radio is overlooked slightly as the film and TV industries grow bigger and bigger. However, it is still highly regarded with hundreds of thousands of radio stations being broadcast all over the world. Depending on a potential employee wanted to do in the radio industry, it is not always necessary to have specific qualifications, but if said person wanted to apply for a job on the more technical side of radio, a qualification would more than likely be required.

Overall, I would personally prefer working in either film or television because there is more room for creativity and originality within these sectors and I believe there are a lot more great opportunities on offer in comparison with the publication and radio industries.